4k resolution coming

[Shifty Geezer]

This thread closed until I know whether it's tackling 3D (where it'll be put into the 3D thread), or native 4k rendering which is such a lost cause it's not going to happen and needn't be discussed! (but I'll open it up then anyway for those who really want to chase the impossible)

 

[Raqia]

Are they making their next console sufficiently powerful for 4k resolution displays? It doesn't seem like it.

 

[Squilliam]

Are they making their next console sufficiently powerful for 4k resolution displays? It doesn't seem like it.

What's the point? Adoption will still be miniscule in 2016.

 

[Raqia]

What's the point? Adoption will still be miniscule in 2016.

True, but if they're claiming a 10 year life cycle, it might still be a big deal in the second half of the cycle.

 

[Squilliam]

True, but if they're claiming a 10 year life cycle, it might still be a big deal in the second half of the cycle.

How exactly ought they support it? All 4K displays will be capable of upscaling content and there is no point dictating that high of a rendering resolution. 4K will be to the next generation like 1080P is to this one.

 

[Raqia]

How exactly ought they support it? All 4K displays will be capable of upscaling content and there is no point dictating that high of a rendering resolution. 4K will be to the next generation like 1080P is to this one.

Sufficient hardware power for native 4k resolution games.

 

[Squilliam]

Sufficient hardware power for native 4k resolution games.

Huh? It isn't likely that the adoption rate for that kind of hardware will be even lower than the current 1080P standard. Besides this it is more important to push more processing power per pixel at a resolution than can be displayed than to push hardware costs up by hundreds of dollars to satisfy a market which at this point is entirely non existent and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

 

[aaronspink]

Sufficient hardware power for native 4k resolution games.

There really isn't going to be sufficient hardware for native 4k res anytime soon. Look, a modern PC graphics engine generally needs xfire/SLI of current top end cards to come close to reasonable frame rates with 1600P displays. 4K displays are 2x the resolution. You are looking at on the order of 1.2 KW of power to drive a 4K display at reasonable refresh rates is modern games. The requirements for 4K realtime graphics are just way too high.

Likewise, the adoption uptick for 4K displays really won't start until the later half of the decade if even then. The costs have to come down by several orders of magnitude and they won't since there is no content pipeline on the horizon to really drive it.

 

[Raqia]

They're obviously not going to make it sufficiently powerful for 4k, esp. w/ a rumored price target of ~$300; it'd be nice considering the rumored 10 year life span of the device. Maybe they could make a refresh that has the requisite cables 5 years in and wire in a second GPU for the newer games at that point to use 4k.

 

[ERP]

4K may well be irrelevant even in 10 Years.
There is nothing they could put in a box today that would give good performance at 4K resolutions.
I have a 580SLI setup, and run surround resolution on my PC 6000x1080, that's still less pixels than 4K and I have frame rate issues on anything considered cutting edge.

 

[aaronspink]

They're obviously not going to make it sufficiently powerful for 4k, esp. w/ a rumored price target of ~$300; it'd be nice considering the rumored 10 year life span of the device. Maybe they could make a refresh that has the requisite cables 5 years in and wire in a second GPU for the newer games at that point to use 4k.

Eh? not going to happen. Not even a cool idea. 4K realtime is far off. You won't really even see any real adoption until the end of the decade. Lets put it this way, there currently is no interconnect standard that really supports 4K outside of boutique professional grade interconnect. The technology simply isn't ready enough to even be on the radar for something like a console. Or another way, it will be close to 15 years from when 1080p displays were commercially available until a console actually supported (had enough power for) 1080p.

 

[Raqia]

Eh? not going to happen. Not even a cool idea. 4K realtime is far off. You won't really even see any real adoption until the end of the decade. Lets put it this way, there currently is no interconnect standard that really supports 4K outside of boutique professional grade interconnect. The technology simply isn't ready enough to even be on the radar for something like a console. Or another way, it will be close to 15 years from when 1080p displays were commercially available until a console actually supported (had enough power for) 1080p.

You might get faster adoption than you anticipated if a later version of iTV sports 4k resolutions; Apple has the clout to push these seemingly far off technology into relevance far ahead of schedule. An additional code path for multi-gpu rendering shouldn't be too big a deal 5 years down the road.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

4K may well be irrelevant even in 10 Years.
There is nothing they could put in a box today that would give good performance at 4K resolutions.

Not to mention diminishing returns. All that pixel performance could be spent on better looking images instead...

 

[Raqia]

Not to mention diminishing returns. All that pixel performance could be spent on better looking images instead...

I agree w/ that. It's just that saturating 4k resolution w/ the fixed function portion of the pipeline isn't a hard problem to solve, it'd be a shame if it were simply hardware limiting this from happening.

 

[tuna]

Games with less geometry and effects like Super Star Dust could be in 4k@60ps next gen, but probably not GTA6.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It still doesn't make sense to trade image quality for resolution - resolution that only an insignificant amount of your customer base can even use.

 

[UniversalTruth]

SES Astra actively planning for Ultra-HDTV

Luxembourg-based SES Astra is preparing to launch Ultra-HDTV channels in “two to three years”. This is much earlier than previously anticipated.

“U-HDTV is still in its early days but NHK’s approach is for full 8K [transmission] but the other U-HDTV is 4K and we see this as being more commercially focussed and could be a reality only two or three years from now. We are very confident that U-HDTV will happen. BSkyB lead the introduction of HDTV in Europe so do not be surprised if you see us partnering with BSkyB in order to pioneer the introduction of Ultra-HDTV in the next two to three years. We are in close cooperation with our customers on their plans,” said Bausch.

Is Ultra HD going to be available in a few years?

......
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The aim is to achieve an 8K signal with 7,680 x 4,320 pixels to match human vision. A 4K version at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels could match today’s digital cinema technology. Full HD currently only uses 1,920 x 1,080 pixels.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What size screen/viewing distance is needed to benefit from 4k?

 

[UniversalTruth]

8K at 28-32 " (display size) should match human vision. 4K- well, it should be smaller--- 20-22 " maybe, you have to calculate it using formulae...

 

[ERP]

8K at 28-32 " (display size) should match human vision. 4K- well, it should be smaller--- 20-22 " maybe, you have to calculate it using formulae...

For a monitor you're sitting 3ft away from maybe.
The difference between my 720P projector and 1080P projector on 106inch screen at perhaps 10ft is marginal. My GF certainly couldn't tell you which one was higher resolution.

There is a huge difference between can perceive and what people notice.